Mikael's Umbrella: Chapter 4

"Hello!" called Mikael, waving to the school coach.
"Hello!" Mr. Leiber responded. He'd been the coach for over 20 years. He was a good-natured, humorous man. Mikael was on a vacation to London, but the vacation seemed to be lasting longer than expected. They'd really settled in over the many months they'd been there. His parents had gotten jobs, well-paying enough to buy a small apartment, and he and his sister, Kallia, had joined the school swim team. They'd liked Mr. Leiber from the start. He joked around with the team members and even regular students could expect a silly pun thrown their way if they passed him in the halls. Only the older grades got sports during the school day, and Mikael was lucky enough to be one of them.
"Get into your bathing suits," Mr. Leiber now called, tossing towels toward Mikael and Kallia. They already had towels. Mikael dodged them, but Kallia got hit headfirst with a hotel bunch of towels tied neatly with a pink ribbon. She sank to the ground, giggling.
Mikael used the distraction to walk quickly to the changing rooms. Inside, he changed into his wetsuit from Mr. Leiber's recommended brand and started out of the room when he saw his phone (he'd set it in his locker, which he left open) flash. He ignored it until MISSED CALL blinked on the screen. Too bad. But before the message faded away, he saw the number.
It was Mariah's.

*  *  *

Mariah, luckily, had thought to look up Mikael's phone number and write it on her hand so she could call him later. Floating on her back in fear, she remembered. It was there, a bit blurry, but still legible. She grabbed her waterproof cased IPhone 4 and tried to call. But no answer came. 

It was her last hope. Mariah dived.

Chapter 3

At dinner, Mikael and his sister were alone. His parents were often late from work, so that was not an unusual situation. He'd ordered pizza from Liam's Pizzeria with the money his parents had left on the table as usual. Suddenly he looked out the window and saw Mariah standing outside with an umbrella held over her head. For a moment, they locked eyes, and Mariah made a gesture that clearly meant "good-bye." Mikael returned the gesture. Then Mariah hurried away.
"Why did you do that?" his sister asked.
"Because," said Mikael. Strangely enough, he didn't want anyone to know about Mariah.

           *  *  *

Mariah wished, for what seemed like the billionth time, that she could go to the hotel pool.

It was supposed to be a cold day, but stuck inside her heated hotel room, Mariah was sweltering.

She stuck her head into the living room, where her mother and her older sister were doing a read-through of the script for the latest movie, The Angel Files. "Can I go to the pool?" she asked, forgetting all of her mother's grammar lessons.
Her mother sighed and, surprisingly, threw up her hands in defeat. "Okay, Mariah, you may go to the pool," she said, sounding tired, and, well, defeated. "Remember to be back by 7:00 for dinner."

"I will," promised Mariah, relieved.
She threw on her bathing suit, grabbed a random towel off the rack, and headed down in the elevator, which was completely transparent and light up. She watched the hotel floor swoosh closer and closer, faster and faster, thinking she was going to crash, but it stopped just in time, and Mariah stepped out on the cool glass floor and headed toward the pool.
Mariah felt safe in the pool. Her swimming strokes were clean and practiced, and even her butterfly had a sense of dignity to it. Today there was no one else in the pool. Mariah dove in the cool water, thinking if that if she was a child of Poseidon, she wouldn't be surprised.
When she finally came up for air, a sight made her screech and fall backwards into the water.
There was a man cloaked in purple sitting under one of the showers. In his hands were sixteen human bones.

Mikael's Umbrella: Chapter 2: Bellatae is first introduced to the public!

The first out was a glamorous girl. She wore a sleeveless blood-red dress that sparkled with her every move."Way too inappropriate for the weather," he heard someone mutter. She was also wearing jeweled pink sunglasses and sported a head of blond curls. In short, she took Mikael's breath away.
Following the girl were two adults with expressions of pride on their faces. The girl's parents, Mikael supposed. Then there came an angry-faced girl with mousey brown hair. She was the only one in the group who was wearing regular clothes. Everyone went inside the glittering studio except this girl. 
As the people drifted away, Mikael fingered the old, well-worn key in his pocket. The wizard Bellatae had given it to him in exchange for a sample of pizza, Mikael's favorite food. Bellatae had promised that the key would one day grow enough to fit the lock in the basement of Mikael's apartment. The basement, according to Bellatae, was a tunnel to a secret underground world. 
"Hi."
The once-angry girl was in front of him. Surprised, Mikael took a step back.
"I'm Mariah," she said. "My sister's a movie star, and our parents drag us all over to make exotic movies." Unlike many of the people he'd met in London, Mariah didn't have a British accent.
"I'm Mikael," Mikael said. "I play baseball." It seemed like a worthless piece of information compared to Mariah's. "Well, bye."
"Where are you going?" demanded Mariah, but Mikael was already off, size 8 feet pounding on the soaked ground.

Contest Results

Winning Title by Owen and Melissa

2nd Place: John Packel

I would like to thank everyone who entered the contest! The entries were all very interesting and creative, and I enjoyed reading them. 

Mikael's Umbrella: Chapter 1

The rain was pouring on the dark London street. People with umbrellas hoisted over their heads splashed around, eager to get to their next location. Cars had their blinding headlights on. Mikael stared dismally out from under his own umbrella and wrapped his light sweater around his shivering body. He peered around the rainy city square. No one else seemed to be having the same temperature problem. But then again, no one else had worn only a light sweater, T-shirt, and shorts.
Mikael passed by Amete Filming Studio. He usually liked to sneak a look in the window, to see what movie was currently being filmed.Today was different. It was as cold as being stuck in the freezer, Mikael thought, taking a quick look in the restaurant next door.
The noise of pop music magnified 100 times awakened him to his senses. A sleek panther-black limousine was cruising by, stop-sign-sized speakers pumping out rhythms. It stopped right in front of Amete Filming Studio. Curious, Mikael joined the queue of people crowding around the sparkling doors. "Back, back," he heard someone say, and then the doors opened.

The Life of Corinne P.: Chapter 15

The rock loomed up in front of Lisa, Kenna, Mira, and Corinne, giving it the appearance and shadow of a large creature. Corinne let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. Everyone else did the same.
Lisa took out a flashlight and flipped it on. "Look, there's an inscription on this rock," she said.
Everyone leaned closer, too curious to ask what an inscription was.
The inscription said:

You have made it this far.

Push this rock aside to enter.

Enter what?

You should know.

The problem was that the rock was very big and heavy for one person to push.

"I'll do it," each person offered, and failed. Finally, an idea popped into Corinne's head. It was so ridiculously simple that she was surprised that no one had thought of it yet.

"Let's push together," she said.

It worked! The enormous rock tipped over and landed with a mighty crash. Exhausted from the effort, the four of them almost collapsed. But at last, they worked up the strength to take a few steps into the new world.

Notice-- The Corinne P. Series will temporarily be put on hold, and another series will start up. Then there will be a series incorperating both of the previous series.

The Life of Corinne P. :Chapter 14

Kenna was falling.
Corinne knew what was happening. The paper had fallen with much too loud a clunk. The floorboards of the cabin  had split, revealing a gaping hole beneath.
Kenna had fallen in.
Mira and Corinne looked at each other. Mira had a very confused look on her face. Corinne imagined that her own face was the same.
Lisa was the first to speak. She too had a look of confusion and worry. "We should go down," she said. "All of us, together."
Mira nodded, and then Corinne. Mira prepared to jump. At the last moment, she grabbed her camp bag and clutched it tightly in her right hand. "You too, " she instructed Lisa and Corinne. Then she jumped.
Corinne grabbed her own camp bag. "I hope this turns out well," she said to herself. She jumped.
It was a long way down.Surprisingly, though, Corinne landed gently. She saw Mira sitting cross-legged beside her and Kenna a short distance away. Soon, Lisa joined them. She was carrying two camp bags. One had Kenna's name on it. The other was quite obviously hers.
"I thought we might stay here for a while," she explained.
None of them were prepared to see a giant shadow rising in front of them.